ASIA: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to jail critics of his use of martial law, days before the Supreme Court is set to rule on its legality.

EUROPE: UK Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure from her ministers to end the government’s policy of economic austerity as a new poll shows her popularity has slumped.

MIDDLE EAST: Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has opened its airspace to passenger planes of Qatar.

TECHNOLOGY: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a report that the nuclear sector had been targeted in a hacking campaign, but no U.S. nuclear power plant had been penetrated.

TOP STORY

Syria: Suicide car bomb attack in Damascus

A suicide bomber blew himself up in Tahrir square in central Damascus.

Syrian police had been chasing three suspected car bombers that were trying to enter the capital.

The third was able to enter the city and blew himself up after being surrounded in the square, causing several deaths and leaving a number of people wounded.

Senior police official said that “terrorists simultaneously blew up three cars”, two of them on the road to Damascus airport southeast of the capital and a third in the eastern Sahat Al-Tahrir district.

Nine people were killed, among them civilians and soldiers, and 15 were wounded.

Brazil: Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot said that there was still ample proof against President Michel Temer, which he did not include in the charges brought against the president this week. (Reuters)

Peru: The country celebrated the incorporation of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore as associated countries of the Pacific Alliance. (Xinhua)

Venezuela: Four protesters were killed in the city of Barquisimeto, bringing the total number of deaths from anti-government demonstrations to 89. (AFP)

ASIA

Region: US President Donald Trump will make back-to-back phone calls to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping on 02JUL. (CNN)

Afghanistan: Militants loyal to the Islamic State group beheaded 10 fighters from the rival Taliban group in the northern Jawzjan province. (Xinhua)

Afghanistan: The Taliban attacked a local militia, killing 13 pro-government fighters in the Chemtal district. (AP)

Philippines: President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to jail critics of his use of martial law, days before the Supreme Court is set to rule on its legality. (AFP)

EUROPE

France: 2,000 people were evacuated from Paris’s main airport after an individual went into a “restricted area” without first going through security controls. (AFP)

Spain: Hundreds of thousands of people marched for LGBT rights in the World Pride parade in Madrid. (Reuters)

United Kingdom: PM Theresa May is under pressure from her ministers to end the government’s policy of economic austerity as a new poll shows her popularity has slumped. (Reuters)

Vatican: Pope Francis declined to renew the mandate of German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller as prefect of the office that handles sex abuse cases. (AP)

MIDDLE EAST

Iran: The country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) opened its airspace to passenger planes of Qatar. (Xinhua)

Qatar: The country faces possible further sanctions by neighboring Arab states, as a deadline to accept a series of demands will expire the night of 02JUL. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia: The country’s gross domestic product shrank from a year earlier in the first quarter of 2017, for the first time since the global financial crisis. (Reuters)

Syria: Militant groups shelled residential districts in the southern city of Deraa, some 110 km from Damascus, leaving two civilians dead and 12 injured. (TASS)

TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Technology: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a report that the nuclear sector had been targeted in a hacking campaign, but no U.S. nuclear power plant had been penetrated. (Reuters)